Ron presented on the Sustainable Westchester Clean Transportation Project, Electric Vehicles (EV), and EV Charging Stations to the Town of Ossining Board meeting on March 21st.

The Board voted to approve the Town’s $48,000 grant application for 3 new Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, plus another $5,000 grant that will cover the entire first year’s cost for a new leased EV. The Municipal Lease that EarthKind arranged for will result in spreading the dramatically discounted price of $22,000 for a new Nissan Leaf over 5 years – at zero interest!

While the federal government is backing away from the fuel economy standards that were driving a transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) – local municipalities are now joining together to lead the way. EarthKind is honored to be the Clean Transportation Project director for Sustainable Westchester’s EV program (http://sustainablewestchester.org/2016/08/electric-vehicles/). Nationally, we will be joining villages, towns, cities and counties who are creating $10+ Billion of demand.

Forbes recently did an article on the movie “Before the Flood”, where the UN “Messenger of Peace” – actor Leonardo DiCaprio – documents the realities of Climate Change, and provides insights into the solutions.

One of most fascinating quotes: To transition the world to 100% renewable energy will take 100 Gigafactories like the one that Tesla is building in Nevada.

While it’s no small feat to build a ~15 million square foot Gigafactory, and building 100 is beyond the reach of any one company – it is tremendously hopeful that there IS an achievable path to get humanity through the ever-deepening depths of climate disruption.

Electric Vehicles are coming. 90% of American’s trips are shorter than 30 miles, so we could all use EV’s most of the time. If you pay 12c per kilowatt hour for electricity (from your utility, or via a reasonable Solar Power Purchase Agreement) – driving an electric vehicle is equivalent to paying $1.00 per gallon for gas. Plus there is less maintenance (no oil changes) – and zero emissions. While Tesla is leading, virtually every car manufacturer has electric vehicles. And, with plug-in hybrids, you don’t have to worry about not finding a charging station, as your engine switches over to gas when you need it for longer distances.

September 10-18th is National Drive Electric Week – “a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. They are fun to drive, are less expensive and more convenient to fuel than gasoline vehicles, are better for the environment, promote local jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.” https://driveelectricweek.org/

In the Hudson Valley, there are 2 events where you can find out about – and even test drive – electric vehicles this weekend:

Tesler’s newest model has awakened a huge interest and desire for electric cars.
The Union of Concerned Scientists have published a report this week about the state of electric vehicles in California. Over 200,000 electric cars have been sold in the state at the time of the report. The Union estimates the reduction of over 56 million gallons of gas use by these new cars. That is a very significant amount of CO2 that is not ending up in the atmosphere. Read the NY Times Article Here!

This is a video from Nissan which looks at the future of electricity as one continuous grid everywhere. Kind of like community solar model gone wild. It is a fascinating glimpse of what could be. OK, lots of people will be cynical watching the video, but it is the dreamers who initiate changes in civilizations. Watch video here!